


I Flew Halfway Around The World Just To Be With You

by cette_fois



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: M/M, Mental Health Issues, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 08:58:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8321878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cette_fois/pseuds/cette_fois
Summary: Seungyoon disappears. Seunghoon looks for him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the one who sent the prompt. I hope you don't mind that I switched it up a little.
> 
> For days since the announcement about Taehyun, I thought long and hard about posting this since it contains very sensitive material because of the situation. The prompt was quite direct: psychological romance. Who'd ever thought that we'd have an announcement like that. Sigh. My babies.
> 
> This is my first fiction written in years. Please be gentle :)
> 
> P.S. It isn't so halloween-ish.
> 
> Title borrowed from the first line of a Dave Matthews Band song.

**October 28**

Seungyoon is done packing a full day before his departure. His outfit for every day and every activity had been planned based on the shoes he's bringing. Seungyoon strongly believes that one must choose which shoes to bring first and then plan outfits after. All have been organised and packed according to his itinerary.

 

Seunghoon is a madman packing his clothes for his impromptu trip. In his haste, he has zero care what goes inside his luggage. Somehow, he’ll make it work later. He can always make it work. He’s just grateful that he was able to book a flight at the last possible minute. It was either he goes on this trip in the middle of a very busy schedule or go crazy. “Crazy,” he said out loud. “Going crazy might just be a good idea.”

 

Seungyoon settles into his seat in the plane. It was going to be a long-haul flight so he takes out his headset, connects it to his phone and starts his lucid dreams playlist, a healthy dose of Ólafur Arnalds and Brian Eno. He closes his eyes and sinks into his seat. He has brilliant sleeping skills. He can sleep anywhere, anytime, any length of time, turbulent or smooth plane rides.

 

Seunghoon breezes through check-in, boarding and finally finds his seat. He hopes that the food will be good on this flight. He’s a man of simple tastes but he needs food to taste simply amazing. He figured that he has time to watch an inflight movie before they serve the meals. So he goes through the available movies and selects a comedy. He doesn’t notice that he had fallen asleep until he hears the clink of ice into glasses. “Ha! Meal time,” he thinks. He prays that the table wine they’ll be serving won’t be ghastly as he’d like to pair it with the beef dish he’s chose for his inflight meal. His musings were interrupted when he noticed that the drinks trolley was delayed. The flight attendant was having a hard time navigating because a passenger who was all legs had them stretched out on the aisle. “Dude, when you’re all legs, tuck them in your area,” he remarks in his head.

 

Seungyoon rolls his eyes as the man across the aisle drills the flight attendant on the food. “What does the beef come with? Did you use fresh milk for your pudding or just the reconstituted one? Did you steam or blanch the vegetables?” the man asked. For him, food is food. Why do you need all these details? If he hadn’t woken because he mistakenly had his legs stretched out on the aisle, he’d still be sleeping. But, he’s still glad he’s awake. The meal was part of what he paid for and he sure as hell will get his money’s worth. The flight attendant pushes the trolley onwards, finally, revealing the man with the annoying attention to food detail. The man seems to feel his gaze, turns his head and gives him the warmest smile he had seen in years. He wanted to stop staring but he couldn’t. His eyes met the stranger’s and he feels his ears redden. “Plane food can be better. Don’t you think?” asks the stranger. “Um, yeah, I guess,” replies Seungyoon. “Are you going for vacation?” he probed. Seungyoon answers yes and finally finds the will to face front. He puts his earphones on again. He may think that the stranger was awfully cute but he is not in the mood for small talk and he is sleepy again. He didn’t wake up until the plane had landed. He quickly grabs his bag and rushes to get out. After immigration and baggage claim, Seungyoon is on his way to his hostel. Then, as soon as he dropped his bags in the dorm type room he got, he goes out to look for the restaurant the girl at the reception recommended. He finds it takes a plateful of food and settles on an empty table.

 

Seunghoon is hungry. He goes to the restaurant below his hostel. He scans the entire room and finds all tables occupied. Fortunately, he sees a seat available and approaches it. He hopes the lone person on a table good for four would be willing to share. To his surprise, it’s Mr. Legs-Who-Hates-Small-Talk-But-Awfully-Cute from the airplane. He musters his brightest smile to ask, “Hi again! Mind if I share the table with you? This place is full!”

 

Seungyoon can’t believe that Mr. Food TMI was in front of him. The city was enormous and yet they managed to be in the same restaurant at the same time. He gestures to the empty seat as if to say go ahead. The man sits down and asks, “Are you staying at the hostel above this restaurant? I think they have a deal so everyone staying there is eating here.” “Um, yeah,” Seungyoon responds but the stranger goes on, “I heard trains might not be running tomorrow because of the strike.” “What? This is going to ruin my perfect plan!” His dinner companion smiles, “maybe we can share a cab to go around the spots tomorrow? I actually don’t have an itinerary. I just have a list of places I’d like to visit, activities to do and that’s it so I’m game for anything you already have planned.” He agrees, “Well, if you want I’ll share my itinerary with you and we can go together. It’ll be cheaper that way.” “Sounds like a plan. I’m Seunghoon by the way.”

“Seungyoon. nice to meet you.” He just agreed to spend the next three days with a stranger but his guts tell him that he had nothing to be afraid of, that he was perfectly safe with him. He’s left all precautions at the door and feels the excitement build inside him.

 

**October 29**

The next morning Seungyoon wakes up to the fluffiest cheeks and the cutest smile he has seen in all the mornings he has woken up to. “Good morning,” Seunghoon greets him, who, as it turns out, is also staying in the same dorm-type room. “You were dead to the world when I came in last night after my shower. Get up. Let’s execute your brilliant plan today.” He was going to love waking up in the next few days.

Their first day together, Seungyoon discovers how comfortable it was to be with Seunghoon. All day, his new-found travel companion, knew when to stop him from obsessing about facts and just enjoy the spot.

“This is the first spot in the Seungyoon Ancient City Tour. Here, take an earbud. I downloaded an audio guide.”

“You really prepared for this, didn’t you? Wait. What the hell?! Why is this in Spanish?!”

“Oh. Sorry. I’m learning Spanish these days and thought it’ll be cool to test my listening skills while on vacation.”

“I don’t understand Spanish at all and if you’re just learning then how will you understand everything?”

“Don’t worry. I have the Korean guide too.”

“But isn’t all this just a bunch of rocks?”

“Rocks have stories. They hold memories of the past.”

“So let me take your picture in their memory then.”

When he stops to upload a photo on Instagram, Seunghoon would instantly be over his shoulder insisting that he be credited as the photographer. He gladly obliges, grateful that he found someone who can take photos well. Seunghoon would also drag him away from a spot when he’s taken too long there and he has gotten bored from waiting for him.

 

Surprisingly, his travel buddy knew the best restaurant or eating spot everywhere they go. Seunghoon was eerily familiar with his tastes that he left the menu with him. They’d go to these hole-in-the-wall restaurants where Seunghoon would order food that went well together and usually food that he has never tried before. Sometimes he didn’t know if the food really tasted good or if he was just enjoying it because he was in good company. While Seunghoon seemed to revel in the food, he also constantly griped about the places they were visiting.

 

“If you’re going to complain about ruins, then why did you go here?”

“Because. Reasons.”

“You know you don’t have to tag along with me. I’ll just be visiting ancient ruins all throughout.”

“No. I want to be with you no matter what.”

Taken aback, Seungyoon replies, “You know I’ve been talking about myself all day but you haven’t shared a single detail about yourself. Don’t worry I won’t stalk you when we go back to Seoul.”

 

He took care of him so well and knew all his quirks and they had only spent 48 hours together. Seunghoon was in the shower when his phone lit up. He had no intention to violate his privacy but why did he have a photo of the two of them that was not taken in the past two days?

 

**October 27**

Seunghoon received a phone call from the hospital late in the evening. He had been spending long hours at the design studios preparing for the new season. He doesn’t complain though. Work has been therapeutic, a perfect distraction to the empty house he goes home to every night. It gives him enough positive energy to face weekends, weekends spent with someone who barely recognizes him. He was anxious the entire week because of the nurse’s warning.

“He’s become increasingly agitated these days. He looks about ready to run away again.”

“I’ll be there this weekend. I’ll talk to him.”

 

_Seungyoon had insisted to be admitted in a facility when his disease has progressed that he would need round-the-clock care. “When my memory fails me, send me to a facility. Don’t bear the burden.”_

_“But aren’t marriages supposed to be about being together through sickness and health, thick and thin?”_

_“Marriages aren’t dead weight that chain you down from doing what you want. I know you. You won’t rest. You won’t complain. You’ll suck it all up and endure. I did not marry a martyr. Find other ways to wear a cape.”_

 

Packing? Why was Seungyoon packing? Hoon opened their shared online travel accounts and found reservations, bookings for hostels and flights. Shit. Seunghoon mentally kicked himself. He should have changed the passwords to their accounts. It was barely three months since Seungyoon entered the facility. He thought he didn’t have to do all that. He had been busy catching up on things he neglected for the months he was staying at home because he couldn’t leave Seungyoon alone anymore to take care of himself. He hadn’t had the time to check and attend to all the mundane things of couple life.

 

Exhaustion had caught up with him. He doesn’t know how Seungyoon was able to do all these reservations in the facility. Right that moment, he didn’t have the time to ponder on making sense of the situation. He focused on booking the same flight and in the same hostel that Seungyoon chose. His hopeful self was winning the battle. He should be planning how to bring back Seungyoon to the facility but he missed his partner. He’ll take this as his chance to spend time with him. The past year had been difficult as Seungyoon’s clarity deteriorated. He had more episodes than moments of lucidity. Whatever, he thought, the past is gone. He’d take this Seungyoon now.

 

Seunghoon couldn’t stop smiling and staring at Seungyoon across the aisle. As he slept, he looked like the Seungyoon of the past, his sleeping baby stretching out his long legs. He wanted to reach out and hold his hand but he didn’t want a situation.

At the hostel, the first night was hell. Seungyoon was in the bed right next to his. He wanted to crawl into his bed, lay his head on Seungyoon’s shoulder, put his arm across his torso and snuggle. He fought this urge up until the next morning when he woke up and saw Seungyoon all swollen and pink, hair in a disarray. He just had to go to his bed and hug him. Seungyoon did not protest.

 

He followed him everywhere and dragged him to all the restaurants they had been planning to go before Seungyoon got worse. He made sure that his partner ate well, crossed the street safely, drank enough water and got the best photos. If this was going to be their last trip together then it had to be documented well. It was enough for him to watch Seungyoon get all giddy over stacks of rocks from ancient times for hours on end. How can one be bored looking at his cheeks turn to mochi, at his plump lips redden and at his chin dimples that deepened every time he smiled?

 

At their first lunch together, he got caught staring while Seungyoon was digging into his pasta.

“Why aren’t you eating? Your pizza will get cold!”

“Because you eat with so much gusto that I feel full already.”

“Nonsense. Go eat. You need energy. We’ve been walking for hours.”

He laughed and kissed the smudge of tomato sauce at the edge of Seungyoon’s lips. “You have sauce on your mouth. I had to clean it.”  
“A napkin would have worked the same way.”

“I know but I wanted to conserve trees.”

 

There were other moments when Seungyoon would stare at him and ask if they knew each other. He would only smile and change the topic. He may not be in his lucid state but he was still the man he loved and married and he didn’t have the heart to lie to him. They promised honesty to each other and honesty he will give him until whenever.

**October 30**

Two days of an excited Seungyoon and he was happy until he commits a fatal mistake. He forgot that his phone wallpaper was still their wedding photo. He returned to their room with Seungyoon in the throes of an episode. He was disoriented, screaming at everyone in the dorm room, asking why he was there, where was he and why did a stranger’s phone had his photo. The entire hostel could hear the shouting. He tried to calm him by offering explanations, soothing him with a calm voice, hugging him. When all attempts failed, he took out a sedative and administered it on Seungyoon. He managed to convince the hostel not to throw them out but just move to a private room where it was just him and Seungyoon. In the darkness of their new room, hidden in the shadows of the night, Seunghoon slumped on the floor and wept. Tears flowed for the past year of struggling to have a normal life despite Seungyoon’s illness, for the past two days of blissful moments and for that night when all the months of treatment felt like a waste. He cried as the minutes passed into hours and tears dried up as he finally slept. He was woken by a hand caressing his cheek.

“Come with me back to bed.” The moonlight was reflected in Seungyoon’s eyes, eyes that were clear for the first time in months. He got up from the floor and followed him to their bed. “Tell me everything including the bad moments.” He began telling him about the past two days, his work and their plans for the next day but Seungyoon also had other plans than talking and sleeping.

**October 31**

When they woke up the next day at noon, Seungyoon was still lucid. “I’m so happy to wake up with you beside me.” Seungyoon plants small kisses on his forehead, his cheeks, traces his jawline and finally reaches his lips. A tear falls as joy sprung from his heart and flowed. He was going to have a lucid Seungyoon for more than a few hours. It is one of his good days, good days when he recognizes him. In the past, Seungyoon would try his best to make good memories during these good days so that Hoon can carry those in his heart when the tough times come and come they did. The tough times were rare and far in between at the beginning but as the year progressed so did the challenges.

“I’d love to spend the day in bed with you but you said that we haven’t gone to two special places yet. I don’t want to give up on the possibility of getting better for you. We’re not religious but they said we can have three wishes when we visit a church for the first time right?”

For two days, Seungyoon stayed lucid. They threw as many coins at all the wishing fountains they found, offered candles at all the churches they stumbled upon, finished their list of food to eat and most of all, they loved each other in all the ways they could.

**November 2**

On their last morning, Seungyoon woke up before him and was staring at him with loving eyes, clear.

“Hi.”

“Hello.”

“This may be my last lucid moment with you. I want to take this moment to say that you are my lighthouse. In the storm of my thoughts, I followed your light to reach the harbor. I love you. Thank you for being my lighthouse.”

Seunghoon watches as Seungyoon's eyes lose its clarity who speaks again, "I know you, I met you once upon a memory."

“Yes, once upon a memory, we shared happiness."

"I feel so sleepy. I can't stay awake longer. Will you stay by my side until I fall asleep?"

"Of course, today, during the bad nights and for all your other good nights."

Seungyoon smiles and closes his eyes. "Thank you."

 


End file.
